iOS 12 System Requirements: Is Your iPhone or iPad Compatible?

Posted by Jim Tanous on June 13, 2018

iOS 12 will be released as a free update later this year, but will your iPhone or iPad be able to run it? Apple noted during its WWDC 2018 keynote that the company focused on performance optimizations for its upcoming mobile operating system, and that this means that iOS 12 will be supported on all devices that currently support iOS 11.

So if you’re running iOS 11 right now, you’ll be able to upgrade to iOS 12 later this year. For those not sure about device compatibility, however, here’s the complete list of all iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices that meet the iOS 12 system requirements.

How to Determine Your iOS Device Model

Many iOS devices share the same external design between product generations, so if you’re not sure exactly which iPhone or iPad model you have, here’s how to find out.

For the iPhone, check out Apple Support Article HT201296 to identify your device via its model number or design. For the iPad, it’s Support Article HT201471 and for the iPod touch it’s Article HT204217.

iOS 12: Supported iPhones

iPhone models dating as far back as 2013 will be compatible with iOS 12. Here’s the complete list:

iPhone 5S (2013)

iPhone 6 (2014)

iPhone 6 Plus (2014)

iPhone 6s (2015)

iPhone 6s Plus (2015)

iPhone SE (2016)

iPhone 7 (2016)

iPhone 7 Plus (2016)

iPhone 8 (2017)

iPhone 8 Plus (2017)

iPhone X (2017)

iOS 12: Supported iPads

Certain iPad models dating back to 2013 will be compatible with iOS 12. The complete list:

iPad mini 2 (2013)

iPad Air (2013)

iPad mini 3 (2014)

iPad Air 2 (2014)

iPad mini 4 (2015)

12.9-inch iPad Pro (2015)

9.7-inch iPad Pro (2016)

iPad 5th generation (2017)

12.9-inch iPad Pro 2nd generation (2017)

10.5-inch iPad Pro (2017)

iPad 6th generation (2018)

iOS 12: Supported iPods

Sadly, there’s only one model of iPod that will support iOS 12, and since Apple has moved away from the iPod brand in recent years, you shouldn’t expect things to improve for this product line going forward.

iPod touch 6th generation (2015)

iOS 12 Support: Full vs. Limited

It’s important to note that even if your device is on one of the lists above, you may not be able to use all iOS 12 features after upgrading. Some features in iOS 12 require certain hardware capabilities or advanced processing power and are therefore limited to more recent iOS devices.

We don’t yet know exactly which iOS 12 features will be restricted on older devices, but some examples of these restrictions from iOS 11 include Apple’s augmented reality (ARKit) feature that is only available on the iPhone 6s and newer, and Face ID, which is limited to the iPhone X and its TrueDepth camera hardware.

Testing iOS 12 Before Release

If you can’t wait until the final version of iOS 12 is released later this year, you can get your hands on the beta version of the operating system now. Registered Apple developers already have access to the first beta of iOS 12 as of the date of this article’s publication. For everyone else, there’s a public beta planned for launch at the end of June.

Keep in mind, however, that iOS 12 is truly pre-release software, and therefore will likely contain bugs. Some of these bugs may even be serious enough to destroy your data or render your iPhone or iPad unusable. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that users not install any Apple beta software on their primary device, and that multiple robust backups of user data are maintained in the event of data loss or corruption.